On the way home from ballet last night, my 5 year old daughter Charlotte came out with her pick for the 2008 Presidential election.

She is voting for the one with the star.

This is how it came about. We drove by the typical sign plastered highway corner and she says to me. “Dad, I am going to vote for the one with the star.” I asked her why. She did not give me her blistering opinion of abortion rights, gun control, taxes, ear marks or budget cuts. She said, “Well Dad, I like the star, and Dad I am going to vote for them even if it is not Obama.”

Funny story huh. Simple and direct. She votes out of her heart, not her head.

I wonder if we voted with our hearts instead of our heads. What if Republicans would not vote based upon the sole issue of the right to life, gun rights or taxes and instead voted with their heart on a leader who extolled the attributes of compassion, mercy and love. What if Democrats would not vote on abortion rights, big government and union rights but instead voted for whom their heart rings of integrity, honesty and hard work.

So as we are deciding whom to vote for on Nov 4 can we try to vote out of our hearts? Voting out of the knee jerk reaction of red and blue, donkey and elephant may be appropriate in an election of the class clown but is of little value in election of local and national officials.

So I too join my daughter in voting for the the one with the star, voting from the basis of my heart.

I admit it. I am a genuinely undecided voter. Now that is not to say that I don’t lean in a certain direction, cause I do. Problem is that I find myself on a political teeter totter, jotting from one side to the next with every youtube montage that I see. (my real question is why don’t some of the great youtube videos ever make it on tv?)

So in light of this weeks Democratic National Convention I will highlight what I feel is my defining question for each the candidates. So this week it is John McCain’s turn. And I have a great youtube that epitomizes my question.

My question is this. Is John McCain too hawkish? Does John McCain like war too much? Will he stomp out evil wherever it pops up and by doing that inflict greater evils on the countries and the greater world that we are meant to be liberating? Or maybe even the greater questions is, does the world need liberating? And if it does, to whose definition of liberation shall we be wed to?

So get your popcorn and soda, kick back and watch this short clip… Tell me your thoughts.